Survey Findings on Female Survivors and Work

A study recently published in the American Society of Clinical Oncology shed light on female cancer survivors' ability to return to work following treatment. Its findings give us some positive news - that the majority of women treated for breast cancer returned to their prediagnosis working time.

The study tracked 505 women from breast cancer diagnosis to almost a year and a half later, examining changes in working time 16 months after diagnosis. Compared with with amount of time spent working prediagnosis, 72% of the survivors in the study reported no change in working time, 2% reported an increase, 15% reported a
decrease, and 11% did not work at follow-up. The authors also identified factors associated with job
discontinuation and decreased working time. The biggest factor affecting whether or not a woman returned to work was whether or not their treatment included chemotherapy, with cancer-related work limitations coming in second. Such statistics help identify those survivors in the need of more work-related support post-treatment.

More details about this study can be found here, and for further information on factors surrounding survivors' decision to return to work, please read our recent key findings from the survey we did in 2012 with Harris Interactive here!